Risky Business

September/October 2009

ByBy Amy Logan

Photo: Mathew Sturtevant

Robert Rudloff Jr., CFE, CIA, has built an exciting career in the gaming industry as an internal auditor. Today, he is vice president of internal audit for MGM MIRAGE.

In May 1978, Robert Rudloff Jr. was at Castleton State College in Castleton, Vt., working toward concurrent degrees in accounting and art (with an advertising focus) when the first casino opened in his hometown of Atlantic City. He didn't expect to be as intrigued as he was. In fact, he'd had no intention to return to the Atlantic City area at all once he got his degree. But still, the glamour and newness was its own draw.

In late 1979, he scored his first interview with a casino - the Golden Nugget Atlantic City, which was set to open the next year.

"I had applied for accounting positions - not knowing what internal auditing was at that time - and was introduced to internal auditing in that first casino-industry interview," Rudloff said. "The work was going to be different every day as compared with a general accounting job that would be routine and repeat each month. Also, the internal audit job was going to let me use a wider array of analytical skills as opposed to straight accounting skills. I was sold at that point and only pursued internal auditing as a career after that."

That decision led to his current role as the vice president of internal audit for MGM MIRAGE - one of the world's leading gaming, hospitality, and entertainment companies. He said he has never regretted his decision to become an internal auditor since he started his gaming career in September 1980.

"I wanted a challenge for a career, but internal auditing became so much more than that," Rudloff said. "I got to see every part of the business and was able to interact with senior executives on a professional basis even when I was a relatively inexperienced auditor, and it exposed me to the world of fraud examination - a dimension of my career that I would never have gotten into except for internal audit."

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